How to make a Smash Book the Upcycled way Part 2

So I finally got done with my Smash Book 2011 and here is where you can see final pictures. I started on my own version of the Smash book too a couple of days ago and since I had the weekend to play around I did make some progress.

My upcylced version of the smash book was supposed to be made using only recycled craft items or things that I was going to throw away. In the last post I talked about the many materials I would use. From mailers, to old magazines, to old scrapbook paper and printed photographs for the pages to soda cans and plastic for the embellishments. I also used a few pages I tore out of my Smash Book, the pretty pink one, since I did not need so many pages. I resized them and added them to my new book.

I worked on the pages and have almost 40 ready :). I gathered all the images I wanted to use and cut pages out of them. I used a slightly smaller size than the actual smash books but you can pick any size you are comfortable working with. My only advice would be to keep it smaller than an A4 size. The pages were glued together if they were not strong enough. You have to make sure the book pages are sturdy since they need to withstand ‘smashing’ :). The pages were all punched using the Cinch as well and I used 3 book rings to ‘bind’ the book.

What I love about using the book rings is that I can always go and add more pages if I feel I need to. There is a lot of room to play and experiment, add and subtract.

I also worked on the covers that were made from an old corrugated card box and then covered with old prints that I was going to throw away since I never ended putting them up. The covers were cut out of an old corrugated card box and were punched using the we r memory keepers Cinch 2. It really is an amazing machine and this is my first project using it. I can’t wait to make more stuff soon!

I am sharing a few pictures of what my book looks like currently and would love to hear from you on any changes you think I should make or any other suggestions. Please do share your versions of upcycled smash books as well and let me know if you would like to guest post on my blog as well with your project.

Here is are the pages and what they look like right now as well as the pictures of the covers and the Cinch 🙂